II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 359
To implement a 5-year pilot program establishing a performance-based pay
structure for certain Federal employees in order to enhance productivity,
accountability, and employee satisfaction in public service.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY3, 2025
Mrs. B
LACKBURN(for herself, Mr. TILLIS, and Mr. RICKETTS) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
A BILL
To implement a 5-year pilot program establishing a perform-
ance-based pay structure for certain Federal employees
in order to enhance productivity, accountability, and em-
ployee satisfaction in public service.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Employee Per-4
formance and Accountability Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
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(1) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 1
the Director of the Office of Management and Budg-2
et. 3
(2) E
LIGIBLE EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘eligible 4
employee’’ means an employee of an Executive agen-5
cy employed in a position that— 6
(A) is— 7
(i) at the GS–11, GS–12, GS–13, 8
GS–14, or GS–15 level; or 9
(ii) a senior-level position, which shall 10
be defined as a position classified above 11
the GS–15 level under section 5108 of title 12
5, United States Code; and 13
(B) has clearly measurable performance 14
criteria, such as— 15
(i) a project management position; 16
(ii) a position involving administrative 17
or policy analysis; 18
(iii) an information technology, fi-19
nance, or procurement specialist; 20
(iv) a leadership position that involves 21
managing a team, evaluating program per-22
formance, or supervising operations; 23
(v) a customer service representative; 24
or 25
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(vi) a claims processor. 1
(3) E
XECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Executive 2
agency’’ has the meaning given the term in section 3
105 of title 5, United States Code. 4
(4) P
ARTICIPATING AGENCY.—The term ‘‘par-5
ticipating agency’’ means an Executive agency, 1 or 6
more employees of which are participating employees 7
in accordance with section 3(b)(1). 8
(5) P
ARTICIPATING EMPLOYEE .—The term 9
‘‘participating employee’’ means an eligible employee 10
who participates in the Program. 11
(6) P
ERFORMANCE METRICS .—The term ‘‘per-12
formance metrics’’, with respect to a participating 13
agency, means standards for participating employees 14
tailored to functions that are specific to the partici-15
pating agency, which may include— 16
(A) productivity standards, which measure 17
quantifiable outputs such as completed cases, 18
projects, or responses per quarter; 19
(B) quality standards, which measure com-20
pliance with protocols, accuracy, and customer 21
satisfaction rates; and 22
(C) timeliness standards, which measure 23
compliance with processing deadlines, efficiency 24
improvements, and timely task completion. 25
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(7) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘Program’’ means 1
the pilot program established under section 3(a). 2
SEC. 3. PILOT PROGRAM ELIGIBILITY AND PROGRAM 3
SCOPE. 4
(a) I
NGENERAL.—During the 5-year period begin-5
ning on the date that is 180 days after the date of enact-6
ment of this Act, the Director shall carry out a pilot pro-7
gram that establishes a performance-based pay structure 8
for participating employees. 9
(b) P
ARTICIPATION.— 10
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 11
the head of each Executive agency shall ensure that 12
not less than 1 percent and not more than 10 per-13
cent of eligible employees of the Executive agency 14
participate in the Program. 15
(2) O
PT-OUT.— 16
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The head of an Execu-17
tive agency may elect to not have the Executive 18
agency participate in the Program if the head 19
of the Executive agency determines that partici-20
pation could pose risks to national security or 21
public safety. 22
(B) T
RANSPARENCY REQUIREMENT .—If 23
the head of an Executive agency determines 24
that the Executive agency should not partici-25
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pate in the Program pursuant to subparagraph 1
(A), the head of the Executive agency shall sub-2
mit to the Director a written justification for 3
the decision. 4
SEC. 4. PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT AND ACCOUNT-5
ABILITY. 6
(a) A
NNUALPERFORMANCE METRICS.—A partici-7
pating agency shall establish annual performance metrics 8
for each participating employee related to core functions 9
and public service delivery, focusing on productivity, qual-10
ity, and timeliness. 11
(b) E
VALUATIONPROCESS.—The Director shall es-12
tablish, and each participating agency shall implement, a 13
standardized, objective performance evaluation system 14
that includes periodic review of the performance of a par-15
ticipating employee. 16
(c) E
MPLOYEESUPPORT ANDTRAINING.—A partici-17
pating agency shall provide training and resources to sup-18
port participating employees in understanding and meet-19
ing performance metrics, including an introductory train-20
ing course and quarterly performance feedback sessions. 21
SEC. 5. INCENTIVE PAY STRUCTURE AND NON-MONETARY 22
BENEFITS. 23
(a) T
IEREDSALARYINCREASESTRUCTURE.— 24
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(1) IN GENERAL.—A participating agency shall 1
implement a tiered salary adjustment system for 2
participating employees based on their annual per-3
formance evaluations under section 4 under which, 4
effective as of the first day of the first applicable 5
pay period beginning on or after the first day of the 6
second year of the Program, and of each year there-7
after, a participating agency shall adjust (if applica-8
ble) the rate of basic pay of a participating employee 9
in accordance with this subsection. 10
(2) T
IER 1 (EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS) .—In the 11
case of a participating employee who significantly 12
exceeded established performance metrics during the 13
preceding year (referred to in this section as a ‘‘tier 14
1 employee’’), a participating agency shall increase 15
the rate of basic pay of the participating employee 16
by 15 percent. 17
(3) T
IER 2 (MEETS EXPECTATIONS) .—In the 18
case of a participating employee who met established 19
performance metrics during the preceding year (re-20
ferred to in this section as a ‘‘tier 2 employee’’), a 21
participating agency may not adjust the rate of basic 22
pay of the participating employee. 23
(4) T
IER 3 (BELOW EXPECTATIONS) .—In the 24
case of a participating employee who did not meet 25
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established performance metrics during the pre-1
ceding year (referred to in this section as a ‘‘tier 3 2
employee’’), the participating agency shall— 3
(A) reduce the rate of basic pay of the par-4
ticipating employee by 15 percent; and 5
(B) provide training or development oppor-6
tunities to assist the participating employee in 7
improving performance. 8
(b) B
ONUSES.—The head of a participating agency, 9
at the discretion of the agency head, may award a bonus 10
to a tier 1 employee. 11
(c) N
ON-MONETARYBENEFITS.—The head of a par-12
ticipating agency, at the discretion of the agency head, 13
may provide a tier 1 employee with flexible scheduling, 14
telework options, and other non-monetary benefits or in-15
centives, such as technology upgrades and parking op-16
tions. 17
(d) R
ELATION TO TITLE5 PAYADJUSTMENTS, 18
S
TEP-INCREASES, ANDOTHERMONETARYBENEFITS.— 19
A participating employee shall not be eligible for any ad-20
justment of pay, advancement in pay, or bonus or other 21
type of additional monetary compensation under title 5, 22
United States Code, based on any service performed while 23
the employee is participating in the Program, including— 24
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(1) adjustment of the rate of basic pay under 1
section 5303, 5304, or 5304a of that title; 2
(2) advancement in pay to a higher rate within 3
the grade in which the employee’s position is placed 4
under section 5335 or 5336 of that title; 5
(3) bonuses under section 5753 or 5754 of that 6
title; and 7
(4) performance awards under section 5384 of 8
that title. 9
SEC. 6. REPORTING AND ACCOUNTABILITY. 10
(a) A
NNUALAGENCYPRODUCTIVITYREPORTS.— 11
(1) I
N GENERAL.—For each year in which the 12
Program is carried out, a participating agency shall 13
submit a report to the Director that includes the fol-14
lowing information: 15
(A) Q
UANTITATIVE OUTCOMES .—Data on 16
cost savings, efficiency gains, and overall pro-17
ductivity metrics. 18
(B) Q
UALITATIVE OUTCOMES .—Examples 19
of how productivity improvements have posi-20
tively impacted public service outcomes and em-21
ployee satisfaction. 22
(2) OMB
OVERSIGHT AND RECOMMENDA -23
TIONS.—The Director shall— 24
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(A) review each report submitted under 1
paragraph (1); and 2
(B) recommend adjustments to partici-3
pating agencies as appropriate. 4
(b) A
NNUALOMB ASSESSMENTS.—For each year in 5
which the Program is carried out, the Director shall— 6
(1) assess the outcomes of the Program with re-7
spect to productivity, budgetary impact, and em-8
ployee satisfaction; and 9
(2) publish and submit to Congress a report on 10
the assessment conducted under paragraph (1). 11
(c) F
INALREVIEW.—Not later than 1 year after the 12
date on which the Program terminates, the Comptroller 13
General of the United States and the Director shall assess 14
the success of the Program and submit to Congress a re-15
port on the impact of the Program on productivity, budg-16
ets, and employee engagement. 17
SEC. 7. FUNDING. 18
(a) N
OADDITIONALFUNDS.—No additional funds 19
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act. 20
(b) U
SE OFEXISTINGFUNDS.—The Office of Man-21
agement and Budget, the Government Accountability Of-22
fice, and each participating agency shall carry out the du-23
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ties of the respective agency under this Act using amounts 1
otherwise made available to that agency. 2
Æ
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